Obstacles to the adoption of active teaching confronted by lss english language teachers in bình thạnh district

In other words, active teaching and the development of the new course books have actually revealed themselves as an English Language Teaching ELT reform, and have caused important change

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

-D E -

OBSTACLES TO THE ADOPTION

OF ACTIVE TEACHING CONFRONTED

BY LSS ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

IN BÌNH THẠNH DISTRICT

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

Supervisor VŨ THỊ PHƯƠNG ANH, Ph.D

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “Obstacles to the adoption of active teaching confronted by LSS English language teachers in Binh Thanh District” is my own work

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution

Ho Chi Minh City, July , 2006

Nguyeãn Thò Thanh Höông

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr Vũ Thị Phương Anh for her whole-hearted guidance, valuable comments, criticisms, and support in the preparation and completion of this thesis I am also grateful to Mr Hà Kim Phước, my former instructor in charge, for his encouragement and careful proof-reading of the thesis

My special thanks go to Dr Lê Hữu Phước, Head of the Department of Post-Graduate Studies of Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities; and Mr Nguyễn Huỳnh Đạt, Head of the Department of English Linguistics and Literature of the university; and their staff members

I am also grateful to the teachers, administrators and staff members at LSSs in Bình Thạnh District for their responses to the questionnaire and interviews Without their kind participation, I would never have been able to get the valuable data for the study I also owe my friends and colleagues sincere thanks for their encouragement; in particular Thảo, Huyền, Ngọc, Hoàng, Linh, Khương, Quyên, Hạnh, for their valuable help

Last, but not least, I would like to extend my affectionate gratitude to my family whose warm love, support and sympathy have given me a source of strength

to finish this thesis

ABSTRACT

The use of both the new English course books (Tieáng Anh 6, 7, 8, 9) and active teaching (more widely known in ELT circles as Communicative Language Teaching) has been carried out parallel to each other as part of a pedagogical innovation launched throughout the country for the past few years However, active teaching seems to encounter a lack of enthusiasm and motivation on the part of English Language teachers in Binh Thanh District The purpose of this thesis is to find out what obstacles to the adoption of active teaching are, and to make suggestions on how to overcome them

To do this, a survey research was conducted at ten lower-secondary schools

in Binh Thanh District Data were collected by means of questionnaires administered

to 53 English Language teachers and interviews with 17 out of these 53 teachers, and

4 education administrators The data obtained were analyzed in two ways: (1) descriptive analysis of teachers’ investigative survey concerning their working conditions; their judgement about their own pedagogical competence, and their opinions on solutions to promoting active teaching; (2) analyses of interviews to obtain

an in-depth understanding of teachers’ working conditions as well as qualification

The responses to the questionnaire indicated that working conditions in

general were poor, teachers graded themselves highly, and most longed for a reform

in the teaching staff’s salary system as well as a relief in the curriculum load and

examination pressure On the other hand, the results of the interviews have brought to

light almost the same points of concern: working conditions were still unsatisfactory, and education administrators blamed teachers for limited competence but did not admit their own responsibility in the management of speciality

In spite of the fact that education administrators and teachers held different opinions on teachers’ competence, it is still logical to acknowledge that our teaching staff’s qualification has left much to be desired in implementing instructional innovation Therefore, it is possible to come to a conclusion that the obstacles to the

adoption of active teaching lie in poor working conditions and teachers’ limited competence, that the pedagogical innovation, in spite of its reasonableness and necessity, has not been based on its need analysis

In conformity with the above conclusion, this thesis suggests an amelioration in teachers’ working conditions and an improvement in their pedagogical competence on the basis of reinforcing the vital role of management

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality i

Ackowledgement ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents v

Appendices viii

List of tables ix

List of figures x

Abbreviations xi

INTRODUCTION 1

THE PROBLEM 1

AIM OF THE STUDY AND OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS 2

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 3

LIMITATIONS 3

CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 5

1.1 THE CURRENT SITUATION OF LSS ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN BINH THANH DISTRICT 5

1.1.1.Course objectives 5

1.1.2 Course contents 5

1.1.3 Course books and time allocation 6

1.1.4 English Language Teaching staff and students 7

1.1.5 The use of Communicative Language Teaching 7

1.2 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ WORKING CONDITIONS IN BINH THANH DISTRICT 9

1.2.1 School facilities and teaching aids 9

1.2.2 Opportunities for professional development 10

1.2.3 Work pressure 12

1.2.4 Managerial incentives 13

1.3 SUMMARY 13

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 14

2.1 AN OVERVIEW OF ACTIVE TEACHING THEORY 14

2.1.1 What is active teaching? 14

2.1.2 Why is active teaching important? 14

2.1.3 What are the barriers? 15

2.1.4 Active teaching of English & Communicative Language Teaching 15

2.2 FACTORS FACILITATING / HINDERING THE USE OF COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING 18

2.2.1 Learner responsibility and autonomy 18

2.2.2 Practice conditions for second language learning 22

2.2.3 Teaching ability 23

2.2.3.1 General teaching skills 24

2.2.3.2 Language proficiency 26

2.2.4 Management in English Language Teaching 27

2.2.4.1 Defining objectives for English program 27

2.2.4.2 Developing staff 28

2.2.4.3 Managing teaching staff’s time 30

2.2.4.4 Implementing innovation 31

2.2.5 Material factors 34

2.2.5.1 Teaching facilities 34

2.2.5.2 Financial resources 36

2.3 SUMMARY 36

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 37

3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 37

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 37

3.2.1 Subjects 38

3.2.2 Instruments 39

3.2.2.1 The questionnaire 39

3.2.2.2 Interviews 40

3.2.3 Data collection procedures 42

3 3 SUMMARY 43

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 45

4.1 RESPONSES TO PILOT INTERVIEWS 45

4.2 RESPONSES TO SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES 46

4.2.1 Personal information 46

4.2.2 General information on school working conditions 47

4.2.3 Teachers’ opinions on self-assessment of ability 52

4.2.4 Teachers’ opinions on solutions to promoting active teaching 53

4.3 RESPONSES TO OTHER INTERVIEWS 55

4.3.1 Working conditions 55

4.3.1.1 Income 55

4.3.1.2 Facilities and teaching aids 56

4.3.1.3 Opportunities for professional development 62

4.3.1.4 Students’ learning 65

4.3.1.5 Too much time spent on doing useless things 69

4.3.1.6 An overview of working conditions 70

4.3.2 Teachers’ competence 71

4.3.2.1 Command of language & teaching skills .71

4.3.2.2 The use of Communicative Language Teaching 72

4.3.2.3 Application of new technology and equipment to teaching 73

4.3.2.4 Ability to develop appropriate tests and assessments 74

4.3.2.5 Ability to update professional information .74

4.3.2.6 An overview of teachers’ competence 75

4.4 SUMMARY 75

CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 76

5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 76

5.2 CONCLUSIONS 77

5.2.1 Acknowledgement of teachers’ limited competence 77

5.2.2 Obstacles to the adoption of Communicative Language Teaching 78

5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS 79

5.3.1 Working conditions 79

5.3.2 Professional ability 81

REFERENCES 83

APPENDICES 88

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1:QUESTIONNAIRE (IN VIETNAMESE) 88

APPENDIX 2 : QUESTIONNAIRE (IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION) 90

APPENDIX 3 : ANSWERS TO OPEN- ENDED QUESTIONS (12.8 & 14.11) 92

APPENDIX 4: A INTERVIEW SCHEDULE 92

B INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS (IN VIETNAMESE) 93

C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS (IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION) 93

D TEACHER-INTERVIEWEES’ ANSWERS 94

E INTERVIEW WITH TEACHER CASE 31 103

APPENDIX 5:INTERVIEWS WITH EDUCATION ADMINISTRATORS 105

APPENDIX 6: 114

Table 6.1: Course books and time allocation 114

Table 6.2: Summary of the four summer short-termed training courses on new teaching methodology 115

Table 6.3: Schools where target teachers were chosen 115

Table 6.4: Subjects for pilot interviews 116

Table 6.5: Procedure for interviews: number and method 116

Table 6.6: Causes relating to job dissatisfaction & ranked according to order of relevance to the matter 117

LIST OF TABLES

Chapter 3

Table 3.1: Summary of survey’s sample characteristics 39

Table 3.2: Summary of subjects and instruments 42

Chapter 4 Table 4.1: Teachers’ seniority 46

Table 4.2: Frequency of teachers’ total income 47

Table 4.3: Frequency of ratio of teachers’ salary to total income 47

Table 4.4: Teachers’ evaluation of working conditions 48

Table 4.5: Job satisfaction 49

Table 4.6: Summary of information about working conditions obtained from questionnaires 52

Table 4.7: Teachers’ opinions on self-assessment of ability 53

Table 4.8:Teachers’ opinions on solutions to promoting active teaching 54

Table 4.9: Teacher-interviewees’ opinions on classrooms .57

Table 4.10: Teacher-interviewees’ opinions on cassette players & pictures 58

Table 4.11: Teacher-interviewees’ opinions on other teaching aids 58

Table 4.12: The application of new technology to teaching 59

Table 4.13: Summary of teacher-interviewees’ opinions on teaching aids .61

Table 4.14: Teacher-interviewees’ comments on students’ learning 65

Table 4.15: Summary of information about working conditions obtained from interviews 70

Chapter 5 Table 5.1: Summary of findings 76

ABBREVIATIONS

BT: Bình Thạnh

CLT : Communicative Language Teaching

DOET : Department of Education and Training

ELT : English Language Teaching

EFL : English Foreign Language

LSSs : Lower Secondary Schools

MOET : Ministry of Education and Training

TESOL : Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

INTRODUCTION

The study reported in this thesis examines the obstacles to the adoption of active teaching faced by Lower Secondary School English language teachers in Bình Thạnh (BT) District This introductory chapter aims at identifying the problems the thesis attempts to solve, and to present an overview

of the thesis

THE PROBLEM

The use of both the new English course book (Tiếng Anh 6) and active teaching was carried out parallel to each other since academic year 2002-2003 Tiếng Anh 7 appeared in the following school year 2003-2004, then Tiếng Anh 8

in 2004-2005, and Tiếng Anh 9 in 2005-2006 In other words, active teaching and the development of the new course books have actually revealed themselves as an English Language Teaching (ELT) reform, and have caused important changes to English teaching activities focusing on the four language skills, teaching techniques (warming up, presenting new language materials, and arousing learners’ interest), variety of classroom activities, tests and assessments, and the use of new technology

After two and a half year of ELT reform, a number of positive results have been observed First, English Foreign Language teachers (EFL teachers) as

a whole acknowledge that the new course books (Tiếng Anh 6, 7, 8) are a real improvement compared to the old ones; that ELT reform is really a necessity, and most of them have adapted themselves to the new teaching method and the course books Second, students in the lower grades, those who have been subjected to the reform from the start, have proved to be more active, motivated, and diligent than the ones who are in the upper grades and have never been targeted by the reform However, besides such encouraging results, it is rather worrying as instructional innovation has encountered a lack of enthusiasm on the part of EFL teachers who have started to air their complaints such as “I am asked

to do too many things”; “Teaching is too hard”; “We lack many things needed for the new curriculum”; “Students do not take learning on their own seriously”;

“We have limited class time” “We are left alone coping with ELT reform” What are the causes of the complaints? How are these negative job attitudes created? Is it because of the powerful influence of education traditional practices, or the deficiency of needed materials and equipment, or the lack of administrative incentives?

When reviewing the theory of active teaching / learning, it is noted that there are barriers that Bonwell and Eison (1991) have pointed out such as the influence of educational tradition, the lack of needed teaching skills, materials, equipment, or resources, limited incentives for faculty to change, the risks that students will not participate, use higher-order thinking, or learn sufficient content, that faculty members will feel a loss of control

That active teaching / learning faces obstacles is not a startling phenomenon However, in our education background, the issue has been pointed out in general, but there are no studies of practical obstacles to active teaching / learning carried out with a view to discover what LSS English Language teachers really need to be successful in implementing instructional innovation

Under the above circumstances, concrete obstacles to the adoption of active teaching should be singled out so that EFL teachers at LSSs can teach more and more effectively

AIM OF THE STUDY AND OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS

The aim of this study is (1) to seek empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that there exist obstacles to the adoption of active teaching in LSSs in Binh Thanh District and (2) to offer recommendations to minimize them with a view to improve English teaching at lower-secondary level

To obtain the final results, a survey was conducted and based on (1) a questionnaire asking the teachers about their working conditions, their self -

evaluation of their competence, and solutions to improving active teaching and (2) interviews with teachers on the working conditions, and with education administrators on both working conditions and teachers’ competence

Besides this introductory chapter, this thesis contains five main chapters:

Chapter 1 presents the background to the study consisting of the current situation of LSS English language teaching, and EFL teachers’ working conditions in BT District

Chapter 2 provides an overview of active teaching theory as well as factors facilitating / hindering active teaching of English The latter consists of learner autonomy, practice conditions for second language learning, teaching ability, the role of management, and material factors

Chapter 3 describes the methodology used in the study This chapter consists of three parts: a presentation of research questions, a discussion of the research design, a depiction of the subjects, instruments, and data collection procedures

Chapter 4 presents the results of the study and discusses the findings from the sources of data

Chapter 5 consists of a summary of findings, logical conclusions, and recommendations

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This research study is carried out with the purpose of identifying obstacles to active teaching at LSSs in BT District In parallel to this, it may gain some significance as it is performed to discover what LSS English language teachers really need to implement instructional innovation with success

LIMITATIONS

Due to the research methods of data collection, generalizations and recommendations will be limited to educational establishments of BT District On

the one hand, the results of the study might not be highly representative because the subject-teachers have been trained inadequately in Communicative Language Teaching, and the teaching situation in BT District might differ from that in others On the other hand, the scene could have been more comprehensive if the research had been carried out in all 15 LSSs in the District, and teachers had been interviewed about their competence It is hoped that more study on the obstacles to active teaching of English at lower secondary level will

be performed for better generalization and comprehensiveness The recommendations from this study, however, may be applied in similar education

settings

CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

This chapter provides the background of the study in which the research is conducted with the purpose of understanding the issue studied It is presented into two sections The first section is a description of the current situation of LSS English language teaching in BT District The last section depicts EFL teachers’ working conditions in the above-mentioned area

1.1 THE CURRENT SITUATION OF LSS ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TEACHING IN BINH THANH DISTRICT

1.1.1.Course objectives

The new English curriculum at Lower Secondary level is developed

on the following four specific objectives:

- Getting fundamental, minimal, relatively systematic, and understanding of up-to-date English of the respective age groups

- Obtaining basic listening, speaking, reading, writing skills as a simple communicative tool

- Obtaining general knowledge of English-speaking countries’ cultures

- Shaping students’ skills in language-learning and creative thinking to help them use their mother tongue better and form more comprehensive language ability(Chương trình Trung Học Cơ Sở Môn Tiếng Anh: 3; English Translation mine)

-Being capable to communicate in English in and beyond the classroom

-Being capable to express communicative simple ideas relating to themes /

topics and language contents learnt

Phonetics, vocabulary, and grammar should be based on the above themes, and limited to students’ learning capacity, age and the amount of 1300 to 1500 words

1.1.3 Course books and time allocation

The course books (Tieáng Anh 6, 7, 8, 9) are designed basing on the six main themes (Personal information, Education, Community, Health, Recreation, The world around us) divided into 16 topics corresponding to 16 units (for grade

9, six main themes are divided into 10 topics corresponding to 10 units) (See Appendix 6, Table 6.1) The degree of exploiting these themes is not necessarily equal and each unit is taught for 5-6 periods Tieáng Anh 8 and 9 are built for stage II of the LSS English curriculum, during which skills are trained more profoundly and grammar is taught more systematically

Comparing with course books of the old LSS English curriculum, the new ones are differently structured After every four units, the old course books have a consolidation unit of four or five periods On the contrary, the new ones

have a “language focus” as a consolidation section at the end of each unit

1.1.4 English Language Teaching staff and students

English language teaching staff

Students

Except for students in District 3, the sixth grade students at LSSs in BT (as well as other districts) get acquaintance with active teaching and learning for the first time for all subjects in the school year 2002-2003 This means their past experience is dominantly in frontal teaching, which more or less affects their learning at lower secondary level However, it is found that fair and good students could adapt themselves to active learning more easily than average or below average students In general, LSS students do not enjoy a proper language-learning environment: English taught by non-native speakers, Vietnamese classmates, and Vietnamese-speaking environment Outside the classroom, there are no opportunities to practise English

1.1.5 The use of Communicative Language Teaching

The new course books (Tieáng Anh 6, 7, 8), designed on a communicative basis, requires a suitable teaching methodology which is Communicative Language Teaching that EFL teachers try to adopt Teaching orientation can be interpreted as stimulating learning motivation, attracting

students’ interest, and promoting their active participation, independence and creativeness Learning by doing is a common EFL teachers’ motto The general teaching practice applied by theses can be summarized as follows:

First, in getting started part, they manage to create a learning environment; i.e creating comfortable learning atmosphere and arousing students’ interest in order to have a good start of the new lessons To carry out this step, teachers ask questions about the new topic using illustrated materials at the beginning of the lesson, or probing into students’ existing knowledge or knowledge of the previous lessons, or using pictures, real objects to gain students’ interest

Second, teaching new language content can be mentioned in two aspects The first aspect, on the part of teachers, is a complete change in understanding the new language contents, i.e considering them as a tool for communication and information exchanges The other aspect is to change the way to teach them, which means the materials are introduced in context and explained by a combination of four language skills with as much students’ participation as possible Getting started and teaching new language materials, as just mentioned above, are two steps during which teachers pay much attention to the exploitation of teaching materials and teaching aids to raise teaching effectiveness Besides facilitating teaching and learning, this practice is considered an essential concomitant of successful active teaching Regrettably, audiovisual aids are inadequate; especially those for PowerPoint are used most infrequently

Third, various class activities are organized and designed for students’ active participation to reach the communicative goal These activities comprise class work, individual work, pair and group work To provide students with as many opportunities as possible to practice language skills learnt, EFL teachers tend to adopt pair and group work most frequently, and they have their own opinions about these two teaching practices Namely, it is more successful to

adopt pair or group work in classes rated fair or good On the other hand, it is difficult to adopt pair or group work successfully because of limited class time, large class size, and limited level of students’ participation Limited class time does not permit students have enough practice as teachers have to provide them with the required learning content Large class size also prevents teachers from paying sufficient attention to or taking care of all student groups In average or below-average classes, teachers have to work together with their classes, putting

in the same or even higher amount of work than their students

Finally, EFL teachers also combine new teaching methodology with new way of testing and evaluating In general, they select tests from many exercise books existing on the market, which is encouraged by the Supervisor in Charge of English Many of them design their own tests basing on the format presented in the exercise books mentioned above, or on test format designed by Department of Education and Training

1.2 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ WORKING CONDITIONS

IN BINH THANH DISTRICT

Section 1.1 has provided the current situation of LSS English language teaching in Binh Thanh District This section will present EFL teachers’ working conditions with the following subsections: (1) school facilities and teaching aids, (2) opportunities for professional development, (3) work pressure, and (4) administrative incentives

1.2.1 School facilities and teaching aids

Like many other schools in HCM City, the ones at Binh Thanh District have traditional classrooms with tables and benches arranged in rows facing the teacher, which makes group work unsuitable The whole district, at the time when this research is carried out, has only three projectors for new teaching technology, and three multi-media rooms at three first-rate schools

New course books, designed with an abundant system of pictures as

well as many listening activities, require as many audio and visual aids as possible while teaching So, using teaching aids not only becomes a must but also

is one of the necessary elements of active teaching To make it possible for better teaching, each school has equipped itself with sets of book-based laminated A3-size pictures, cassette tapes, and cassette players So, EFL teachers chiefly use those pictures and cassette players in daily teaching When giving class demonstrations they have felt board, handouts, hand-made pictures

as additional equipment Many others equip themselves with English CD but just use it at home as a reference because of the lack of CD players at their respective school Under such circumstance, there are two things to remark about teaching aids The first concerns the considerable lack and inadequacy of audio - visual aids and teaching resources, the usual complaint of teachers Most schools lack projectors, OHP, CD players, methodology books, journals such as ELT journal or English Teaching Forum, and good dictionaries Because of this, EFL teachers do not always have adequate equipment as required by the lessons, and have to make their own pictures or other teaching aids Second, they hesitate to apply PowerPoint in daily teaching because it requires them time, energy to collect teaching materials as well as a certain informatics level which they lack

If they have to use it, they can ask for help from colleagues or family, for their schools do not have computer-trained staff to support them

1.2.2 Opportunities for professional development

Opportunities for professional development comprise summer termed training courses on new teaching methodology since 2002, when the new course book - English 6 - was put into use for the first time; and professional meetings; peer observations and colleagues’ sharing of ideas and teaching experience since a long time ago Summer short-termed training courses on new teaching methodology last approximately from 3 to 4 days and up to now, there have been 4 courses among which the first one did introduce Communicative

short-Language Teaching (CLT) 4 years ago (These courses are summarized in Appendix 6, Table 6.2) The instructor of the first course is a TESOL holder, the teacher of the other three is the Supervisor in Charge of English of BT District Department of Education and Training During these courses, the instructor stressed the content of new course books, the requirements to carry out teaching steps such as getting started, presenting new language materials / items, as well

as the requirement for teaching skills and testing skills It is noted that no theory

of active teaching / learning, nor published materials about methodological innovation was provided to teacher-trainees except “In-service training course materials for EFL teachers teaching 8 th and 9th grades There were teaching practices done by teacher-trainees only in the first two courses (2002, 2003), but

no discussion about the actual teaching was carried out to draw pedagogical experience In the last two courses, teacher- trainees’ activities were mainly preparing then making presentation of lesson plans At the end of those four short-termed training courses on new teaching methodology, no forms were handed to teacher trainees to collect individual feedback on the said courses so that they had the opportunity to make suggestions for better performance in the future According to most teacher- trainees, the courses focused mainly on theory rather than practice and they have to manage themselves to find appropriate steps to teach in their own classes The situation of professional meetings doesn’t fair any better: twice or three meetings a month amounting to 16 meetings or more during a school year are considered time-consuming and formalism This is because the meetings generally do not focus on speciality or something like that but on how tests will be, how many columns of marks to submit, who will be inspected pedagogically Peer observations between colleagues are performed twice a year to school English teaching staff, and two or three times a year to all English teachers in the district After those observations, especially at district level, there is a complete absence of professional comments or discussions, so

both the performing teacher and observers receive no feedbacks to draw experience from This lack of constructive comments makes class observations become formalism On the other hand, the situation seems better for colleagues’ sharing of ideas and teaching experience The teachers from the same or different schools in the district communicate with one another to discuss or share ideas about speciality: what they think can work well and what does not This is the most frequent, practical, and comfortable way for professional development Regrettably, there are no opportunities for the district teaching staff to share professional experience with English teachers from other districts or native-English teachers, nor seminars, workshop, conference from which everyone concerned can benefit

1.2.3 Work pressure

To most people at large, teachers’ work, depicted as preparing lesson plans, giving lectures to students, correcting tests, seems rather light However, EFL teachers suffer from pressure caused by both their actual workload and the pursuit of high, unrealistic achievements First, besides teaching in classes, the actual workload consists of meetings (about 35 meetings per year during which there are no discussions), 8-9 periods for class observations in colleagues’ classes where non-English as well as English lessons are taught, 10 different types of school compulsory records (personal grades record, class grades records, class grades sheet, school report, teacher-in-charge’s notebook, students’ academic records, lesson plans book, professional record book, meeting record book, class observation notebook), form teacher’s task, extracurricular activities, competition movements (teaching contest, musical performances, cooking contest, flower arrangement contest), etc All of these have made the teacher’s workload almost insupportable With a host of instructions or directions from school superiors, participation in extracurricular activities, just to cite a few, many form teachers become exhausted with little energy to fulfill their pedagogical duties

1.2.4 Managerial incentives

To bring methodological innovation into effect, first, regular inspection of teaching and learning has been carried out: the Principal of each school has periodically gone on a tour of inspection of all the classrooms, and District Department of Education and Training officials in BT have been doing the same at all the schools within the district Visiting and observing classes help them ensure that active teaching is applied Second, if educators who participate in teaching contests ask for any support, for example, teaching equipment, in general they will get positive responses However, for daily teaching, the situation is not always favourable Just a small sum of money is invested for each teaching subject in every school for teaching aids at the beginning of every new school year and teachers are equipped with a course book, a teacher book, a set of pictures, a cassette player and are expected to implement pedagogical innovation with success At well-furnished school (or even at ordinary ones), when their turn to teach with electronic lesson plans

or any other task is assigned to teachers, it seems that the teachers’ task will be certainly and obligatorily realized Whether they can use PowerPoint or not, or what difficulties they face in actual teaching, it won’t be a big worry on the part of their superiors: schools are operated in a one-way communication system (teachers are to receive instructions from principals) so discussions are not always necessary Taken seriously, this can be understood that they have to implement any directive as a default Finally, in addition to the fact that teachers are constantly reminded to participate in professional meetings, they are advised to study by themselves for self-professional improvement by the Supervisor in Charge of English, who is fully aware

of the current situation of ELT in BT District

1.3 SUMMARY

This chapter has described the current situation of LSS English language teaching in BT District, and EFL teachers’ working conditions This information will be used later in the study in chapters 3 and 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

In chapter 1, the background to the study has been depicted In this chapter the literature relevant to the study is reviewed in two sections: (1) an overview of active teaching, and (2) factors relating to the success or failure of Communicative Language Teaching

2.1 AN OVERVIEW OF ACTIVE TEACHING THEORY

This section provides definitions of active teaching as well as reasons for which active teaching should be used, obstacles to employing it, and comparison between active teaching of English and CLT to prove that they are of

the same philosophy

2.1.1 What is active teaching?

In those days, most school subjects are learned in a rather passive way Students just sit at their desks, listen to lectures, and try to commit to memory as much as possible what they have heard or recorded in their notebooks They were, in fact, considered as passive receivers of knowledge But with active teaching and learning, the situation becomes different: they are lively engaged in the learning process, rather than passively absorbing lectures According to Bonwell and Eison (1991), “active teaching can be defined as

strategies promoting active learning” or active teaching involves students in

“doing things and thinking about what they are doing”

2.1.2 Why is active teaching important?

Bonwell and Eison (1991) have indicated that applying active teaching

in the classroom is essential for three reasons:

• Learners are much more interested in active learning than in traditional lectures

• Many strategies promoting active learning are comparable to lectures in promoting the mastery of content but superior to lectures in promoting the development of students' skills in thinking and writing

• A great number of individuals have learning styles best served by

pedagogical techniques other than lecturing

Showing such powerful impact active learning makes upon students' learning, he insists that teachers should become knowledgeable about the many strategies promoting active learning However, there are always barriers that we will mention now

2.1.3 What are the barriers?

Bonwell and Eison (1991) pointed out three kinds of barriers to employing active teaching: common barriers, specific barriers, and the single greatest barrier of all

• Common barriers originate from the powerful influence of education tradition, faculty self-perceptions and self-definition of roles, the discomfort and anxiety that change creates, and the limited incentives for faculty to change

• Specific barriers include limited class time, a possible increase in preparation time, the potential difficulty of using active learning in large classes, lack of needed materials, equipment, or resources

• The single greatest barrier of all is the following risks:

− Students will not be stimulated sufficiently to engage in higher-order thinking tasks, or learn sufficient content

− Teachers will lack control, the necessary skills, or be criticized for teaching in unorthodox ways

The above are definitions as well as importance of and obstacles to active teaching in general The next section provides with a proper definition of active teaching of English

2.1.4 Active teaching of English and Communicative Language Teaching

Since the 1980’s Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has become

a popular teaching approach not only in many countries but also in Vietnam CLT is

“an APPROACH to foreign or second language teaching which emphasizes that the goal of language learning is COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE”

(Richards, Platt, and Weber, 1985: 48) It “aims to (a) make communicative competence the goal of language teaching and (b) develop procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication” (Richards & Rodgers, 1991: 66) Since 2002 up to now, with the development of the new course books (Tiếng Anh 6, 7, 8, 9), EFL teachers have been asked to adopt active teaching:

Phương pháp dạy học tích cực là cách dạy hướng tới việc học tập chủ

động, chống lại việc học tập thụ động

Active method is educational strategies implemented to promote active learning, bringing students out of the passive role

(Định hướng đổi mới phương pháp dạy học ởÛ trường THCS-Bộ GD&ĐT - English translation mine)

In compliance with this policy, EFL teachers try to find better ways of engaging students in the learning process, moving past passive learning to active learning

When comparing active teaching - also called active teaching and learning - with CLT, it is possible to perceive that they are of the same philosophy, basing on the following:

− If active teaching promotes “learning from doing, performing, and taking action”, in CLT learners are actively involved in using the language they are learning, and in learning through doing (Bonwell and Eison, 1991;Nunan, 1999: 88)

− Active teaching involves the use of strategies that maximize opportunities for interaction Similarly, CLT emphasizes learning to communicate through interaction in the target language(Robson, 2004; Stanford’s Center for Teaching and Learning, 1999; Nunan, 1991; Larsen-Freeman, 1999)

− In active teaching, educators take a more guiding role, or in other words,

create a learning environment which increases students’ involvement in, and

responsibility for the learning process In the same way, in CLT, educators

become facilitators, counselors, monitors who help students in any way that motivate them to work with the language (Robson, 2004; Seeler, Turnwald and Bull, 1994; Richards and Rodgers, 1991: 68; Brown, H G., 2001:25; Breen and Candlin, 1980 as cited in Nunan, 1992; Long and Richards, 1987)

− In active teaching, students do more than just listen, i.e they are much more actively engaged in their own learning By taking on a more enquiring and autonomous role, they are more likely to develop a sense of responsibility for learning In CLT, students do most of the speaking and are more responsible managers of their own learning (Robson, 2004; Bonwell and Eison, 1991; Nunan, 1991; Brown, H G., 2001:26; Rudder, 1999)

− Active teaching encourages students to use their prior experience and knowledge during learning process In CLT, students’ own personal experience

is considered as important contributing elements to classroom learning (Robson, 2004; Baker and Westrup, 2000: 5)

− In active teaching, collaborative activities provide students with opportunities

to learn from and support each other In CLT, students interact with other people, through pair and group work, or in their writing (Fink, 1999; Robson, 2004, Richards and Rodgers, 1991: 68; Nunan, 1999; Baker and Westrup, 2000: 5; Lee and Vanpatten, 1995: 8)

− In active teaching, students apply what they are learning to their daily life In CLT, students are taught how to react in a real world situation, or in other words, there is an attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom (Fink, 1999; Nunan, 1991; Chickering and Gamson, 1987)

− In active teaching, the level of students’ participation is high, in CLT they contribute as much as they gain (Fink, 1999; Breen and Candlin, 1980 as cited in Richards and Rodgers, 1991: 77)

− Both active teaching and CLT develop communicative skills in students (Robson, 2004; Nunan, 1996: 78)

− In active teaching as well as CLT, teachers actively cooperate in providing a varied program of instruction, and students develop skills in self-assessment and self-evaluation (Vu, 2004; Nunan, 1999)

Basing on the teacher’s role, learner’s role and key characteristics of active teaching of English and CLT, it is possible to come to a conclusion that the former is the latter and vice versa

2.2 FACTORS FACILITATING / HINDERING THE USE OF

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

This section analyses the role of factors without which CLT can face failure These factors consist of (1) learner responsibility and autonomy, (2) practice conditions for second language learning, (3) teaching ability, (4) management in English Language Teaching, and (5) material factors

2.2.1 Learner responsibility and autonomy

In language teaching, teachers can provide all the necessary circumstances, but learning can only happen if learners are willing to contribute Davies (2000: 194) indicates, “In Communicative Language Teaching, the

independence from the teacher, or learner autonomy is generally considered

essential for success in language learning” This subsection will present the definition of learner responsibility and autonomy, ways to developing responsibility and autonomy, and stages in the process of developing learner responsibility

• Definition of learner responsibility and autonomy

Scharle and Szabó (2000:3-4) give the definition of learner responsibility and autonomy as follows:

Responsible learners always

- agree that their own efforts are crucial to progress in learning, and behave accordingly

- are ready to cooperate with the teacher and others in the learning

group for everyone’s benefit

- consciously watch and check their own progress, and try to use available opportunities to their benefit, including classroom activities and homework

Thus, autonomous learners are those who have freedom and ability to manage their own learning, which entails the right to make decisions as well

In practice, responsibility and autonomy are very alike while considering these three actions:

- Interrupting the teacher’s talk to ask about a certain point in the explanation

- Looking up a word at home that the teacher used in the lesson but did not give information about it

- Paying special attention when the lesson is about something that the learner is not so good at

In all these actions, learners act responsibly as they are trying to contribute to their learning In addition, they are autonomous because they act independently of the teacher, not waiting to be told what to do

• How to develop responsibility and autonomy

Scharle and Szabó (2000) have indicated that success in learning depends, to a great extent, on learners having a responsible attitude, that some degree of autonomy is extremely important in successful language learning Besides, learners will need to be able to study on their own, at some time in their life So, training them so that they become more autonomous in learning is the best preparation The two authors also point out building blocks of responsibility and autonomy:

− Motivation and self –confidence:

Motivation, thought as the incentive, the need, the desire the learner feels to learn the second language (Dulay, H., Burt, M and Krashen, S., 1982),

helps him/her perform better in language acquisition (Blair, 1982; Krashen, 1987) It is a prerequisite for learning and responsibility development alike In this case, intrinsic motivation works It helps learners recognize the goals of learning and that makes them want to take responsibility for the result In turn, a large scope for student self-determination and autonomy creates intrinsic motivation In other words, motivation and responsibility can make each other stronger Self-confidence helps develop responsibility in its own right Learners must feel certain that they can manage their own learning and they can rely on themselves And a feeling of responsibility and independence brings a sense of well-being and confidence

− Monitoring and evaluation:

Encouraging students to focus on the process of their learning can help them consider their own contribution to their learning Such an awareness of the difference that their efforts can make is an important first stage to develop responsibility Self-evaluation makes the learners go further: they judge their own work as objectively as they can By doing so, they perceive their weak and strong points then make plan for progress Once setting targets for themselves, they are more likely to feel responsible for reaching them

− Learning strategies

Learning strategies play an important role in the process of language acquisition (Beale, 2002) In other words, these tools help learners become more autonomous (Carter and Nunan, 2001: 166; Rodgers, 2000: 3), increase motivation (Dickinson, 1987) and learn in a better way (Harmer, 1991; Wenden and Rubin, 1987) Learners can only really take responsibility for their competence if they are aware of learning strategies to improve it So, it is advisable to show learners the variety of available strategies, help them select what works for them, as well as how and when to use these tools By doing so, learners have the opportunity to explore and expand their own abilities

− Cooperation and group cohesion

Promoting cooperation in the classroom affects learner attitudes in several ways It makes the learners feel self-confidence (and it also increases motivation (Lightbown and Spada, 1998) Group work provides feedback from peers, pair and group work (as compared to whole class work) help teachers to obtain a higher proportion of students actively involved in completing a task (Wheeler, 1994) So, group co-operativeness “is a quality that has to be learned” (Mc Donough and Steven, 1981:91) and even better, remains very useful in

difficult classes (Woodward, 1992)

• Stages in the process of developing learner responsibility

Scharle and Szabó (2000) divided the process of developing learner responsibility into the following three phases:

− Raising awareness

During this phase, we encourage learners to bring the inner processes

of their learning to the conscious level of their thinking by presenting new viewpoints and new experience to them Most of the activities are rather tightly structured, and controlled by the teacher because learners are not yet very responsible at this stage

− Changing attitudes

The next stage is training the skills introduced at the previous stage so

as to begin changing attitudes, which requires a lot of practice and patience, since it takes time to pass from understanding to practising new roles and habits, especially when this involves giving up stubborn old patterns of behaviour Many activities of this stage are repeatable and designed to develop learner initiative

− Transferring roles

This stage requires a considerable change in classroom management, since learners are giving considerable amount of freedom to accomplish or even decide tasks

Turning back to our teaching environment, our LLS students (academic year 2002-2003 to 2006-2007) are mostly subjected to frontal teaching So, developing their responsibility and autonomy will require time as well as patience and efforts

2.2.2 Practice conditions for second language learning

Many conditions for second language learning have been identified such as Classroom condition, Communication condition, Motivation condition and many others In this sub-section, we will focus on Opportunity for practice conditions

According to Spolky (1998:170), “Learning a language involves an opportunity for the new skills to be practised; the result is fluency” His theory is pointed out as follows:

The language learning process by Anderson (as cited in Spolky, 1998) consists of cognitive phase, associative phase, and autonomous phase Cognitive phase deals with the development and memory of the underlying, declarative knowledge Associative stage is the stage where the declarative knowledge is transformed into procedural form, and where the learner starts to use the knowledge Autonomous phase is the phase where the procedure becomes automated It is the second two stages that are parts of the Opportunity for Practice condition

Opportunity for practice condition is one of the conditions without which no language learning happens and the outcome is not reasonably considered as second language knowledge They are also claimed to be necessary and graded although they are not sufficient conditions - “the more they are true, the more their outcome will be true” (Spolky; 1998: 170)

Practice condition, together with the other five necessary and graded conditions, will serve as a heuristic for analyzing a number of central issues concerned with the values of formal and informal instructions Spolky points out that formal learning relates to autonomous phase, and informal learning relates

to cognitive and associative phases He also considers the relative value of formal and informal learning opportunities

Formal second language learning or classroom learning is learning language in a situation where only one person (the teacher) has command of it and the teacher is working to control the exposure so that it will lead to learning Informal second language learning is picking up a second language in the environment in which it is spoken from others speaking it with the purpose of using it to communicate.

Formal and informal learning have a set of contrasting conditions In natural second language learning, the language is being used for communication, but in the formal situation it is used only to teach In natural language learning, the language used is free and normal; in the formal classroom it is carefully controlled and simplified Finally, in the natural learning situation, attention is on the meaning of the communication; in the formal situation, it is on meaningless drills

2.2.3 Teaching ability

General teaching skills and language proficiency are two of five domains of content defined as constituting the core knowledge base of second language teacher education (Jacobs, 1997: 195) Figure 1 presents five domains but in this subsection just 2 are discussed: general teaching skills and language

proficiency This is because general teaching skills comprise all the things that a teacher of any subject must master and language proficiency undeniably affects

an EFL teacher’s communicative ability as well as teaching skills

General teaching skills

Language

Subject matter knowledge Pedagogical reasoning decision-making

Figure 2.1: Five Core Components of Second Language Teacher Education

programs

2.2.3.1 General teaching skills

Jacobs (1997:196, 197) states that “Mastery of basic teaching skills and

techniques is the sine qua non of second language teaching” Although teaching

skills are interconnected with all of other dimensions of teaching knowledge, the following would be regarded as “an essential part of the repertoire of a teacher of any subjects”:

− Selecting learning activities

− Preparing students for new learning

− Presenting learning activities

− Asking questions

− Conducting drills

− Checking students’ understanding

− Providing opportunities for practice of new items

− Monitoring students’ learning

− Reviewing and reteaching when necessary

He also points out the criteria as a basis for the assessment of language teachers:

− Preparation and lesson planning

− General class management and direction

− Introduction and presentation techniques

− Communicative interaction techniques

− The use of teaching aids

In addition to the above skills, ability to develop appropriate tests / assessments and ability to upgrade professional information remain extremely important Cohen (2000: 23) indicates that “for prospective secondary school teachers, one of the required competences is the ability to test, assess and record systematically the progress of individual pupils” and “teachers should be able to demonstrate an ability to select and use appropriate resources including information technology” Testing and assessment help them diagnose student strengths and weaknesses (Bachman, 1997; Bachman and Palmer, 1997), adjust their teaching (Fleming and Stevens, 1998), and “gain information to bring about innovation or change” such as a new textbook (Dickins and Germaine, 1998), and information technology supports their teaching The rise in information technology presents three advantages First, it makes individualized, co-operative, problem – solving, student-centered learning and flexible learning approaches become possible Second, it makes the role of teacher change from a deliverer of fixed knowledge to a facilitator and supporter of student-centred learning Third, “being able to assess and to interact with information and

information systems across the globe at the touch of a button suggests firstly that the certainty of which knowledge is important is exploded and secondly that a premium is placed on skills teaching” Cohen (2000:15)

2.2.3.2 Language proficiency

Since language is the subject matter of second language teaching, language proficiency and communicative ability in the target language is a necessary prerequisite for a language teacher In situations where teachers are native speakers of the target language or have native-speaker proficiency in it, the issue of language proficiency is not an issue However, general communicative ability may still be a consideration for native speakers of the language they teach (Jacobs, 1997: 197)

Cooper (1993: 473) comments:

The essence of the teaching-learning process is effective communication for without communication, teaching and learning would be impossible Thus, one of the core components of teacher education should be speech communication

Heaton (as cited in Jacobs, 1997) argues that classroom discourse is identified by specific speech acts and functions He points out functions essential

to the teacher’s proficiency as follows:

− Requesting, ordering, and giving rules

− Establishing attention

− Questioning

− Repeating and reporting what has been said

− Giving instructions

− Giving and refusing permission

− Warning and giving advice

− Giving reasons and explaining

Spratt (as cited in Jacobs, 1997) and Mariani (as cited in Holden, 1987) have insisted on the need for language improvement courses in in-service training

and professional development Krahnke (1994) has argued that those who teach language of which they are not native speakers should be as proficient in the language as possible Heaton proposes the interdependence of the teacher’s

proficiency in a language and his or her general teaching skills and comments:

By improving the language skills of the teacher, the course deliberately seeks to improve the particular teaching skills which involve the use of those language skills (as cited in Jacobs, 1997: 198)

Language proficiency and general teaching skills should be seen as interrelated For example, poor target language proficiency may lead to inadequate access to basic teaching skills, such as ability to use questions effectively, or inability to provide comprehensible explanations in the teaching language (Jacobs, 1997: 206)

2.2.4 Management in English Language Teaching

2.2.4.1 Defining objectives for English program

On the whole, the absence of clear or appropriate objectives is bad for both teachers and learners This can have a very negative effect on the learners’ attitude toward subjects Therefore, a clear definition of appropriate objectives is vital to successful English language teaching and learning (Davis, 2000: 3)

Defining objectives, an integral process in curriculum development of any education organization, is one of four main elements forming curriculum (objectives, methods, content, evaluation) White, Martin, Stimson, and Hodge (1991: 169) have indicated, “Curriculum is concerned with objectives and methods as well as content Finally, the matching up of outcomes with objectives involves evaluation”

Basing on Skilbeck’s framework, White et al (1991) also make the following points about objectives:

• Objectives in a curriculum should be stated as what it is desired that students will learn and as actions to be undertaken by teachers and those associated with them to affect, influence, or bring about these desired objectives; they need to be clear, concise and to be capable of being understood by the learners themselves

• Objectives are directional and dynamic in that they must be reviewed, modified and if necessary reformulated progressively as the teaching-learning process unfolds

• Objectives gain their legitimacy by being related systematically both to general aims and to the practicalities of teaching and learning, and by the manner of their construction and adoption in the school… it is desirable to try to show that the objectives have a rational and legitimate basis

• The construction of curriculum objectives has to be participatory, involving students as well as teachers, parents and community as well as professionals

In reality, in our country, defining objectives especially in primary, and secondary education, is realized according to the targets set by the MOET This means teachers have no part in the stage of defining objectives, nor in other stages in the process of curriculum development, which is totally contrary to Skilbeck’s (as cited in White et al., 1991) particular attention to the participatory nature of defining objectives Moreover, when the teaching-learning process unfolds, both educators and learners are left floundering to manage to achieve those objectives that seem virtually impossible for them to reach This again is not based on Skilbeck’ emphasis upon the importance of rationality and legitimacy when defining objectives

2.2.4.2 Developing staff

Developing staff, or in other terms, professional development, is defined as an ongoing learning process in which teachers engage voluntarily to learn how best to adjust their teaching to the learning needs of their students (Diaz-Maggioli, 2003)

Davies (2000: 197, 201) stated, “It is very important to get initial training and… a recognized teaching qualification However initial training should

be the beginning, not the end, of your professional development” and it “will not

be sufficient for you to function satisfactorily for the whole of your teaching